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Holbrook Ready For Leeds Challenge

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Saints Head Coach Justin Holbrook gives his thoughts on the Leeds game build-up.

“The Rhinos will come with confidence after their win over Salford at the weekend. They had a bit of a slow start but that’s to be expected when you have a new coach and new players, they will of course get better over time as their new guys gel together.

They have recruited well from the NRL, with Trent Merrin and Conrad Hurrell, to add to some of the dangerous guys they already have in their team like Jack Walker.

I am happy how we have started the season and we want to continue that this week against a tough opponent, who generally plays well at our stadium. We will need to be on our game as always against them to get the two points.

We don’t want to give them the freedom to play. We want to be on our game defensively and slow down their quick style of play down, as well as execute our own plays in attack.

From our side, everyone is fit and we will probably run with the same side as Wakefield. It should be a great game.”

After a week-off for the World Club Challenge Justin commented:

“The break is probably not ideal after round two but it’s forced upon so we have to just get on with it. We have trained as normal and we have benefitted from the Roosters session which gave some our young players a great experience of being able to train against an NRL team.”

On our players who have been featuring for Leigh Centurions, he commented:

“Without a reserves competition, the dual-reg partnership with Leigh is our best option to get players who aren’t in the 17, much needed game time.

Players should be playing as much as they can. Over in Australia, there are plenty of good players who aren’t in the 17 who have to play games for their feeder clubs. How else can you earn your way back in? The Championship is a good standard and it will certainly keep players sharp when they aren’t able to make it into our starting 17.

The game against Leeds Rhinos kicks off at 7:45pm this Friday, 22 February, with tickets still available from the Club Ticket Office at the Totally Wicked Stadium, by calling 01744 455052 or by clicking here.